About 2,000 people in the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs) program, which works to support developing countries become self-reliant, remain in Japan due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), organizer of the program, is on the hunt for activities that these JOCVs can fulfill in Japan so they can use their skills to contribute to society until they can be dispatched overseas.
JICA has summoned about all of the roughly 2,000 JOCVs working in 76 countries back to Japan since March, with about 1,700 of them still in their 2-year contract and waiting to be dispatched again. Additionally, about 300 people who received training in Japan and were scheduled to be dispatched in April or May are on standby.
As JOCVs often leave their jobs to fulfill the program's two-year commitment, there are concerns that the program's suspension or shortened dispatch period may affect their future job prospects.
JICA plans to encourage JOCVs to engage in activities while in Japan. In some cases, JOCVs have already begun providing support to farmers suffering from labor shortages.
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